


Will not He

by orphan_account



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Bitter Mike, High School, Modern AU, Pining Will, Soulmarks, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-03
Updated: 2020-08-03
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:27:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25682017
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: A rewrite of the scene where El reveals she knows Mike's soulmate is a he, where she instead reveals she knows it's Will. Will is not happy.
Relationships: Dustin Henderson/Lucas Sinclair, Eleven | Jane Hopper/Maxine "Max" Mayfield, Will Byers/Mike Wheeler
Comments: 4
Kudos: 64





	Will not He

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Happy Birthday](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14800481) by [embarrassing_myself](https://archiveofourown.org/users/embarrassing_myself/pseuds/embarrassing_myself). 



For the next few days, things continued just as before. Will would get up, go to school, see his friends, come home, pretend like his soulmate wasn’t the boy he’d known since kindergarten, and go to sleep so he could get up and do it all again the next day.

El had kept her promise though. Ever since that one year, El had made it very clear that promises were important to her. Mike had been fairly silent through the bond though and it allowed Will to think clearly for the first time in what seemed like ages.

He still didn’t have any plans on telling anyone else, especially not Mike, but he was still aware that he couldn’t keep it to himself forever. Well, he could try but it was going to be pretty hard.

Will didn't have to think too hard about those things right at the moment though. He was currently preoccupied with studying for his finals. Sadly not much studying had been accomplished. Not when it was him and the whole party down in Mike’s basement. They were in high school, they should have known just how hard it was to study together. Nothing ever seemed to get done.

Like always Dustin was rambling about something and Lucas was trying to keep him focused but he was busy arguing with Mike about why he was right. About what? Will couldn’t be sure. Max and El had broken off into in their own conversation, discussing weekend plans and what pizza to order.

“Guys,” Will groaned, grabbing a single popcorn kernel and tossing it at the three boys. “Please? I’m already getting a D in history, I don’t wanna fail,” he said, trying to plead with the group.

El wouldn’t be able to help him much, she was still a little behind them and not currently attending their public high school, but he expected more from the rest of them. He knew for a fact Lucas had never failed history, he’d never even gotten below a B. Mike and Dustin were doing pretty good too. “I promised I’d help you guys with art if you helped me with history,” he added. Thankfully that was his lowest grade. The group as a whole was known to get good grades, but everyone had that one problem class they needed extra help with.

“I know, sorry,” Mike said first, sitting up a little straighter and grabbing his notes. “It’s Dustin’s fault,” he teased but moved closer to Will so that he could see what he was doing.  
  
“It’s absolutely not my fault, we’ve been doing this for like two hours already. I can’t concentrate, I need more snacks and a break,” Dustin huffed, falling backward onto the floor and groaning.

“Oh come on, it’s not that bad,” Lucas said, trying to haul his soulmate back up into a sitting position. “We can have a snack afterward.”

“He’s right, we’ve been at it for a minute now,” Max said, she was getting restless herself. “Maybe a short break?” She suggested, glancing around the small group.

“Are you hungry?” Mike asked, shifting some to look at Will. All day he hadn’t said much. Especially if it didn’t involve school work directly. Mike was starting to find it odd. Will usually wasn’t that quiet, he usually had plenty of things to talk about. “You alright? You haven’t talked much today.”

“I’m alright, just a little stressed,” Will admitted, looking down at the pile of homework and study guides. “That and I haven’t felt very good.”

It wasn’t exactly a lie. Will hadn’t felt good the last few days. His body seemed to ache and he couldn’t seem to shake his headache. Not only that but it felt like any and all energy he had was quickly drained. He was sure he was coming down with a cold. Pile on homework and soulmate issues, of course he'd be stressed.

“You’re soulmate stressing you out?” Dustin asked and instantly Will tensed up some, noticing how Mike did the same. Lately, soulmates weren’t something they mentioned, not when it was such a sore topic for Mike.

“No, no it’s not that,” Will said, shaking his head. “I just haven’t felt that good,” Will shrugged. “My soulmate doesn’t have anything to do with it.” Will was almost positive he could feel Mike relax some

“What about you, Mike. You haven’t said much about your soulmate at all,” Dustin added and everyone around in the room seemed to make an exasperated sound.

“Hey!” Mike said defensively. “I can talk about them without getting upset!” He huffed. “I just don’t like talking about it.”

Will wanted to shrink some when he felt a wave of hostility in his bond. El had seemed to perk up some as she watched the exchange carefully.

“I still don’t like them, I still don’t want a soulmate and they’re still a crybaby, other than not much has changed,” Mike went on to say, folding his arms across his chest while Will stared at the floor. Lucas gave him an exasperated sigh but El narrowed her eyes at him.

“You don’t mean that,” she said, speaking up and surprising Mike. He gave her a brief look of confusion before his face hardened some again.

“I think I know what I mean, El,” he said in a matter of fact tone. It was almost cold the way he’d said like he still wasn’t over everything. “My soulmate is always crying and I still think the idea is stupid. Like I said before, I don’t want anything to do with them. I’ve just been trying to keep the bond empty.”

“Take it back,” El said, this time her expression was angry and everyone around them seemed confused and taken back, especially Mike. Will on the other hand just wanted to dispare. “Stop saying those things about your soulmate, you don’t mean them.”

“I mean everything I say,” Mike said back, his voice clipped and holding his own anger. “I don’t want to hear you try to tell me how I feel. It’s not like you’d understand anyway, you have your soulmate.” The tone of the conversation had clearly gone from disagreement to fight. “You’re the last person I want to talk to about this with.”

“I told you not to bring up soulmates,” Lucas hissed while El and Mike continued to go back and forth, things quickly heating up.

“It’s not my fault Mike is a cold and heartless,” Dustin pointed out, clearly upset that he’d gotten blamed for starting the fight.

“How can you say that about the person you’re meant to be with?” El asked, standing up glaring at Mike. “You don’t care that you’re hurting them?”

“They hurt me! And in case you haven’t noticed, it’s not exactly easy on this end either. I got stuck with the most depressed, nervous, fucking /broken/ person on the planet! And nobody but me has to deal with it, I have to deal with an emotional mess who has a breakdown every couple of days, not you!” Mike spat, standing up to match El. Of course, he was much taller and Max quickly got up to stand next to El.

Max got nervous like that. Of course, Mike would never hurt anyone but Max came from a home where sometimes things liked that happened and it eased her own nerves to be standing close to her soulmate.

“Guys! It’s not worth fighting about!” Dustin quickly said, trying to do damage control. “Come on, let’s just drop it, we’ve got homework to do.”

“Take it back, take everything you just said back! You can’t talk about Will like that,” El hissed, seething with anger, so much that the glasses that had been on the coffee table started to shake with her energy.

Everyone turned to look at Will as he shouted out "El!" in anger. Mike had fallen silent. 

"What?" He asked. Mike's voice trembled. Will stood up and started to shove his books into his bag. "Will, what is she talking about?"

"I asked you one thing." The shorter boy mumbled angrily. "You promised me you wouldn't tell Mike. The one thing I've ever asked of you, don't tell Mike. Why am I surprised that the first thing you do is tell Mike?" Will was practically shouting at her now, and she flinched. "I'm leaving." 

He threw his bag over his shoulder and started towards the door. Mike grabbed his arm, the marked one, and he jerked back. The rest of the group watch as his supposed mark smudged with the action. "Don't _fucking_ touch me?" He bellowed, and he ran out the door.

For a second, everyone reveled in the shock. Will never yeleld, Will never cursed, and Will's mark had smudged. After a moment, everyone hurriedly rushed to El for an explanation. "Will's been painting on his mark." She admitted quietly. "WIth markers. I caught him recently. His real mark," She placed a finger in the middle of her chest, where Will's mark was, "mathed Mike's and he was scared Mike would hate him."

Mike's eyes widened and he paled. “Wow, good going. You kind of fucking blew it,” Lucas said, shaking his head.


End file.
